All young witches and wizards boarded the Hogwarts Express this past Saturday, September 1st, at exactly 11:00 to return to Hogwarts. Those of us that have already graduated (or went to Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang or other wizarding schools) will get to return to Hogwarts as well on November 16, 2018 when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hits theaters. A new featurette released takes us behind the scenes at Lacock Abbey, the filming site of many of the previous Potter films, and gives us a glimpse of the magic. Hogwarts will feature in this movie through a flashback to a teenage Newt Scamander ( Eddie Redmayne ) in Dumbledore’s ( Jude Law ) Defense Against The Dark Arts Class battling a boggart, as well as a “current” (1927) view as aurors question Dumbledore in his classroom about Newt heading to Paris to find Grindelwald.
The Fantastic Beasts series is set in the time frame from 1926 – 1945, and over the course of the five films will tell the story of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald ( Johnny Depp ) and his rise to power as he attempts to end the Statute of Secrecy and bring wizard rule to the world of muggles.
At the end of the first Fantastic Beasts movie (released November 2016), Gellert Grindelwald was captured by American Aurors in New York. As the second movie opens, Grindelwald is being moved to a new location when a plot to free him succeeds and he makes a daring escape on a thestral-drawn carriage.
He flees to Paris to track down Credence Barebone ( Ezra Miller ), the obscurus nearly killed in the first film, and it is there that Grindelwald begins to build his followers.
“Magic blooms only in rare souls. Still, we must skulk in the shadows.
The old ways serve us no longer…”
Grindelwald has a strong connection with Albus Dumbledore – they were very close friends for a short time as teenagers – and because of this connection, Dumbledore is unable (or unwilling) to confront Gellert. Dumbledore recruits his former student Newt Scamander to help hunt down and aid in the capture of Grindelwald. Newt heads to Paris with not only his own menagerie of beasts – including baby nifflers, an augurey, a leucrotta and mooncalves – but will face new creatures such as kelpies, matagot, and a zouwu.
As Newt tracks Grindelwald, he will reunite with Jacob Kowalski ( Dan Fogler ) and sisters Tina and Queenie Goldstein (Katherine Waterston and Alison Sudol ), as well as meet with the alchemist Nicholas Flamel ( Brontis Jodorowsky ). This story is reported to be the darkest and most thrilling yet in the Wizarding World movies, and the two previously released trailers certainly seem to support this.
Luckily, we won’t have to all head to London’s King Cross Station to return to Hogwarts. Simply head to the theater on November 16, 2018 and prepare to be transported back to our favorite magical destination – Hogwarts and the imagination of JK Rowling.
